Top Ten Best Craft Beer Brands List

Top Ten Best Craft Beer Brands List

In today’s article we’re going to discuss the top 10 best craft beer brands list of breweries that makes every craft beer lover go, ‘YEEEHAW!” while clamoring for another sip.

Before we get down to the ‘nitty gritty’, visit our website by clicking here to learn more about our hard cider products. But before you turn the other cheek, we are known to turn die-hard beer drinkers into raving fans. We’re not your commercial Angry Orchard. We incorporate many beer making principles and techniques in our our brew.

With that said this list of top craft brewery brand reviews will make you wanna’ clock out early, drop the remote control and forget to kiss your significant other on the cheek as you run out to buy a few cases of these beers from 10 of the better beer brands in the country, starting with…

Anchor Brewing – San Francisco

~ ~ America’s FIRST and OLDEST Craft Brewery ~ ~

What better way to start off the best craft breweries list than with America’s pioneer and most popular microbrew – Anchor Brewing?

With humble roots dating back to California’s Gold Rush to accommodate rough n’ tough men looking to strike it rich, Anchor is a staple in the heart of San Francisco’s local communities.

Their uniquely crafted beers are made the ol’ fashioned way using a handmade, time-honored art with an all-malt mash in a traditional copper Brewhouse.

Anchor’s rock solid line of Californian brews such as Anchor’s Steam Beer, California Lager, Go West! IPA, Anchor IPA, Liberty Ale, Old Foghorn Ale and Brekle’s Brown rightfully lands this brewery right at the top of our list.

Great Lakes Brewing Company – Cleveland, Ohio

~ ~ Ohio’s FIRST Microbrewery ~~

Known throughout Ohio for “The Heisman” (now called the Dortmunder Gold Lager named after a famous footballer who lived just blocks away from the brewery), Great Lakes Brewing paved the way with “gold” for other Ohio breweries to follow in it’s path.

Hang around the Buckeye State long enough and you’ll grow accustomed to the ‘black and white’ labeling sprawled across local bars and supermarkets.

Some of GLB’s offerings in addition to their flagship, Dortmunder, includes the Eliot Ness Amber Lager, Burning River Pale Ale and Conway’s Irish Ale to name a few.

New Glarus Brewing Company – New Glarus, Wisconsin

~ ~ 100% All-Natural Creative Brews ~ ~

Founded by Deborah Carey, one of the few extraordinary female CEO’s in the brewing industry, New Glarus took the craft brew industry by STORM after walking away with several national awards at the U.S Beer Open competition.

Currently, there are six beers available year-around along with seasonals to complement festive holidays.

Tasty offerings include the fun, fruity and satisfying “Spotted Cow”, Wisconsin’s Belgian Red which uses hints of Door County Cherries in every bottle and Raspberry Tart; a delightfully rare special ale that’ll put a twinkle in your eye.

Allagash Brewing Company – Portland, Maine

~ ~ The Best Belgian Inspired Beer Aficionado’s ~ ~

What initially began as a one-man operation helmed by Rob Tod quickly turned into Maine’s ‘poster child’ for Belgian Flavored Beers throughout the east coast.

Allagash is best known for their flagship offering, Allagash White, Rob’s interpretation of a traditional Belgian beer brewed in natural wheat and spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel to give it it’s uniquely fruity flavor with a slightly cloudy appearance.

It has won several awards including the Gold medal at the World Beer Cup ’98 and most recently gold at the Great American Beer Fest (GABF) in 2015.

Devils Backbone Brewing Company – Roseland, Virginia

~ ~ …Because The Devil’s In The Details ~ ~

The Devil’s Backbone (call us ‘sinister’ if you will, but that name has a an appeal of its own) Brewing Company has a POWERFUL line of lagers and ales to accommodate virtually any craft beer enthusiast, such as the award winning Vienna Lager, the first beer bottled using a combination of Northern Brewer and Saaz hops with Vienna, Pilsen, Dark Munich and Caramel malts.

As a welcome addition to craft beers revolution, founders Steve and Heidi Crandall are just warming up to bring you the most unique, thought-provoking, challenging, and most importantly, tasty craft beers your lips have ever touched.

Boston Beer Company – Boston

~ ~ Home of The #1 Selling Craft Beer – Samuel Adams Boston Lager ~ ~

Does the Boston Beer Company need an introduction? So famous are they for their national home run hit, Samuel Adam’s, that even non-beer drinkers are familiar with the name alone.

Since the inception of this cult favorite drink the recipe has remained the same since Jim Koch made his first batch back in 1984. But don’t mistake this companies popularity as undeserving to land a coveted spot on this list. It all began with Louis Koch’s Lager recipe (Jim Koch’s great-great-grandfather) and has a humble origin. One things for certain, the name ‘Boston Beer’ didn’t become a household name by accident. Their success is well-deserved for their beers cater to the palet of the average American who are not necessarily bar-hopping to find unique, underground discoveries.

Green Flash Brewing Company – San Diego, California

~ ~ A Fresh, Unusual Traditional Brews ‘Twist’ A Mighty Kick ~ ~

One of the younger breweries on our list, don’t mistake ‘age’ for lack of ingenuity. What Green Flash may lack in experience, they make up for ‘leaps n’ bounds’ in passion, creativity, and unique craft beers ‘unsullied’ by traditional standards from most beer companies set in their old ways.

Their impact on the craft beer scene made quite the statement when they took home top prize as the ‘underdogs’ at the Great American Beer Festival for it’s Le Freak and Trippel brews.

They say, “Never judge a book by it’s cover”. We say, “Always judge a beer brand by it’s beer”.

Brewery Ommegang – Cooperstown, New York

~ ~ The ‘Epicenter’ of U.S. Hop Production ~ ~

Headquartered in Cooperstown, N.Y., a town once known for it’s explosive hop production and high-quality water wells, Brewery Ommegang was constructed on 136 acres of prime real estate that used to be a hop farm. It’s the first farmstead brewery built in America in over a century.

Ommegang focuses largely on the flavor of the year – Belgian ales, a go-to for both experts and fans alike – but they do occasionally get their hands a little ‘wet’ with limited edition seasonals like our current ‘fix’, “Game of Thrones” craft beer.

Victory Brewing Company – Downington, Pennsylvania

~ ~ Home of the Original Whole Flower Hops ~ ~

Headquartered in Downington, PA., Victory one of the oldest craft breweries in America. Founded in 1996 by buddies Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski, their company specializes in German malted barley with a mix of Euro-American flavored whole-flower hops.

Why whole flower?

They insist it creates better flavor and aroma’s. Regardless if your taste buds agree or not doesn’t shy away from the insane production numbers there doing each year — 93,000+ barrels. A FAR cry from the initial 1,725 the duo started with just 20 years ago. Clearly they’re doing something right. And that’s why they’ve earned a spot on our list.

Great Divide Brewing Company – Denver, Colorado

~ ~ Denver’s First Craft Brewery in Denver ~ ~

Headquartered in the beautiful mountain city of Denver, Great Divide are one of the known as one of Colorado’s best, winning a whole heap of awards for their famed Hades Belgian-Style Strong Ale and Yeti Imperial Stouts, a stout Lou Bustamante of SF Weekly and other publications said, “Even with a huge amount of hops in it, it somehow manages to not overwhelm with the rich and intensely malty brew.”

Another notable mention is the Espresso Oak-Aged Imperial Stout; named as one of THE 50 best beers in entire world by RateBeer.com – a near impossible feat given steep level of competition particular taste of a wide variety of beer drinkers.

~ ~ CONCLUSION ~ ~

This is not an exhaustive craft beer breweries list by any stretch of the imagine. These are 10 of some of the best we’ve found that, in light of the accolades, awards, sales numbers and production volume are, at their core, great tasting beer.

This list could easily include 90+ beer brands more we found. Figured we’d get you started tasting one or two of our selections on this list before you jump in the deep in the end. Part of the fun of putting together a list like this is discovering the top 10 best craft beers you enjoy for yourself. Now THAT’S an adventure!

Though we’re no craft beer producers, we make some of the best hard cider in the country in Armada, MI shy north of metro-Detroit. In fact, we’ve managed to convert many craft beer drinkers who swore they would never drink a hard cider a day in their lives into some of our most loyal consumers.